1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique of improving the operability of an image pickup apparatus which picks up an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, many digital cameras and the like use a so-called menu system to allow users to easily use various functions at the time of an image pickup/reproducing operation. The menu system displays a plurality of operation items side by side on the display screen of an LCD or the like and makes the user select a target operation item by cursor movement based on button operation.
In addition, as digital cameras have been equipped with an increasing number of functions, the number of menu items have increased. For this reason, many digital cameras use a hierarchical menu system in which a menu comprises a plurality of sheets each including menu items associated with each other.
Such a menu system tends to require more button operations to select a target operation item.
In contrast to this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-272389 discloses a technique of improving the operability at the time of menu display by omitting hierarchical display of operation items which need not be selected and displaying the next layer, when a user selects an arbitrary operation item from selectable items.
According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-272389, if this system includes many selectable items and few items which need not be selected, the user must perform button operation to select a target operation item. This makes it impossible to expect an improvement in operability.
Conventionally, the purpose of connecting, for example, a printer to a digital camera is to print a pickup image. That is, this operation purpose is clear. In spite of this, in order to print a pickup image by a digital camera, the user needs to execute a procedure of connecting a printer to the digital camera, displaying a menu screen, and selecting an operation item associated with printing by button operation.